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If they are solely concerned about viewing figures, although I don’t like him myself the best thing they could do in the short term would be to replace the hopeless Tanya with Big Mac.
They’ve always said the two most recognisable figures in racing are Frankie & McCririck.Hard to see how viewing figures would be lower with him than without him.
I won’t be watching ch4 racing anymore it is utterly tedious and the lack of showing the horses in the parade ring if you want to have a bet at home is terrible, I might have to subscribe to RUK now. No wonder viewing figures are bad I’m into racing and can’t even watch it.
- Total Posts 764
I won’t be watching ch4 racing anymore it is utterly tedious and the lack of showing the horses in the parade ring if you want to have a bet at home is terrible, I might have to subscribe to RUK now. No wonder viewing figures are bad I’m into racing and can’t even watch it.
I’ve never quite got this, though due to not following horses for that long I find it hard to tell a good’n apart from a not-so-good’n in the parade ring. Surely if you’re betting at home the more important tools would be form study/video study and also things like trainer form and the going, with the ‘paddock pick’ only being a smaller factor – though this obviously changes for 2yo races. But even then, sites like betfair can give you a very large clue a lot of the time as to whether a horse is expected to run a decent race or not.
Attendances up at Ascot this week – there clearly isn’t much wrong with the product itself.
At least we don’t have Adrian Chiles.
Was he eliminated along with England?
If it doesn’t work that way, I think FIFA should seriously be considering it.
"Italy have lost and it’s all over for Chiles. He’s on the next plane home and viewers up and down the land are singing"
"He’s going home, he’s going home, he’s going, Chiles is going home, Three Lions On The Shirt, One nobber on the airplane……….."
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
- Total Posts 764
Attendances up at Ascot this week – there clearly isn’t much wrong with the product itself.
I think the attendances for the big meetings will always be high, the standard of TV coverage that has more of an effect on the mid-week or smaller weekend meetings.
I’d like to see them link in regular races with the bigger ones, for example if you have a 1m2f handicap at Sandown they could say how this race could have an impact on the group races over that distance or further. As it is at the moment to the causal fan (well, this is certaintly how I saw it when I first started watching racing) all the races a bit random and unrelated, you need to give people a reason as to why they should watch that particular race and what it could lead to in the future.
Said most of this before but the programme chiefs need to look at the chemistry of how everything fits in with racing.
As in the days when Clare and Rishi were on the BBC, it’s all about the interviews, the presentation skills etc.
You need more characters on the programme, not just those who communicate very well, it’s more than that.
Someone like Derek Hobson should lead the programme with Clare chipping in only very occasionally.
Mick Fitzgerald is too Oirish for the programme, okay if the programme comes from Leopardstown etc, but it doesn’t work well over here.
Mac should come back. Francome’s a miss.
The programme needs more earthy people on it, not just those who have a London city accent.
Of the programme, horses should feature the most, then the people.2012 total average audience for Royal Ascot on BBC: 6,913,000
2014 total average audience for Royal Ascot on C4: 2,917,000http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/channel-4-racing-suffers-20-per-cent-final-day-slump/1678215/top/#newsArchiveTabs=last7DaysNews
Racing’s a minority sport. Channel 4 is a minority channel.
Racing’s pricing itself out of the market with bookmakers – its major distribution channel.
Channel 4 are trying to produce a racing programme when what most of you guys want is a betting programme. It doesn’t matter who presents it or how slick it is, Channel 4 won’t attract new long-term racing fans in any significant numbers.
My son-in-law (21) bets a lot on football, as do most of his mates.
‘Now the season’s over, will you guys bet on horse racing?’ I asked.
‘No. Too hard to understand.’Now if he wanted to give me a couple of days of his time, I think I could do a reasonable job of teaching him about racing, and betting on racing.
Which young person (and many older ones these days) will give you more than 5 minutes to ‘explain’ anything? Racing needs the impossible – an ‘elevator pitch’ (sum up the attractions to someone you meet in a lift; you have until their floor to hook them).
What racing will always have is those who ‘get it’. If you don’t get it early, nothing will turn you into a long term fan. Forget Channel 4, the BBC, celebrities, beautiful horses etc…you either get it or you don’t.
All of which, SC, may explain why it retains its popularity as an attendance event (i.e. you don’t really
need
to understand it to have a wee bet and a day out in the sunshine and see the horses) rather than a TV event, where some knowledge is more or less required to make it enjoyable.
Something is missing in the format and it’s hard to pin it down. Some have suggested more stats and analysis done in an entertaining but insightful way (but a tad more entertaining than watching GC press a button on a table), perhaps akin to the way Sky revolutionised football coverage in the 90s (was it the 90s?).
2012 total average audience for Royal Ascot on BBC: 6,913,000
2014 total average audience for Royal Ascot on C4: 2,917,000<a href="http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/channel-4-racing-suffers-20-per-cent-final-day-slump/1678215/top/#newsArchiveTabs=last7DaysNews
“>http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/channel-4-racing-suffers-20-per-cent-final-day-slump/1678215/top/#newsArchiveTabs=last7DaysNewsAverage for Saturday was 605,000 last BBC showing two years ago average was 1.89m
Five day average 583,400 this year, 2013 658,000 2012 1.38m
Statistics are (for the majority) a complete turn-off. Football is a simple game that anyone can understand and that is the basic appeal. Saturation television coverage and massive wages to relatively poor players have gone a long way to reducing that appeal.
Going back to the previous post I think the initial interest in racing will for the most part originate through the family. Then hopefully you will view it as a series of puzzles and eventually a possible way of making a little money out of what is a hobby. Good luck in educating someone in two days, I doubt fifty years would be enough and part of the appeal is you are always on a learning curve.
All of which, SC, may explain why it retains its popularity as an attendance event (i.e. you don’t really
need
to understand it to have a wee bet and a day out in the sunshine and see the horses) rather than a TV event, where some knowledge is more or less required to make it enjoyable.
This is true. The on-course atmosphere at the big days and the family fun days/bank holidays, Fri and Sat evenings etc is as good as ever
When it comes down to it, most people see a trip to the races as a bit of fun and long may that continue. They don’t have to be experts
In the past, TV offered so little choice that the likes of the ITV7/the Peter-Julian show/Channel 4 at its peak gained extra viewers, but there are now 500 channels compared with 3 or 4 then
It’s ironic that Channel 4’s viewing figures are suffering because the racing rights negotiators somehow managed to turn their backs on BBC 1. The exposure the sport had on the Beeb, even if only 12 days a year, was priceless, and it would have had a knock-on effect on Ch4’s figures
Having said that, the new Channel 4 format is so tired and dreary, and lacking in character, they must accept some of the blame for the decline in audience
Outside the Grand National, Derby, Royal Ascot and Cheltenham, there won’t be much terrestrial racing from 2017 onwards. It wouldn’t surprise me if Ch4 were to try to pull out before then. The question is whether the racing rights team would consider an offer from BBC or ITV to televise the crown jewels between them, and whether that would be better for racing as a whole than Ch4 doing every Saturday plus the festivals
Personally I believe it would. Currently TV racing is disappearing down the plughole of popularity faster than show jumping ever did
Racing’s a minority sport. Channel 4 is a minority channel.
According it this, Horse Racing is GB’s 2nd largest spectator sport.
If Channel4 employed the following people to present the racing ..Im sure it wont be just the viewing figures that rise!
Carol Vodremann
Liz Hurley
Penny Lancaster
Tatiata Kozhevnikova
My own £ over the last few years has gone from 90% racing bets to 50/50 split with football, there is just too much dross racing these days and even the big meetings on C4 don’t appeal much now.
For me the only attraction that C4 racing has going for it is the pictures in HD, the Claire Balding show has no appeal at all to me.
I wonder if C4 will pull the plug on all the minor stuff and just show the major festivals ?
Racing’s a minority sport. Channel 4 is a minority channel.
According it this, Horse Racing is GB’s 2nd largest spectator sport.
Fair enough, though skewed somewhat by the fact that it’s the only professional UK sport that I know of which takes place 7 days a week, with an average of 4 meetings a day.
And I suppose it’s also fair to say that given football’s popularity, anything else at all is a minority sport.
Also, to echo some other points made on this thread, I’ve never met anyone who’s been to a race meeting and not enjoyed it. There are many courses with thriving attendances, but the vast majority of tracks could not survive without the cash they get from the off course betting industry – Levy and, crucially, media rights.
Media rights demands will strangle racing unless someone gets sensible soon. Bookies are not interested in selling racing as a betting product – it’s much too costly for them. As a result racing’s share of the betting market is close to half of what it was 30 years ago.
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